With Super Furry Animals looking more and more like a nice throwback to the ’90s and ’00s, Gruff Rhys –vocalist and leader of the troupe– continues to leave inexcusable works within an increasingly juicy and imaginative solo career. “Sadness Sets Me Free” (Rough Trade, 24) is the latest release from one of the greatest goldsmiths of Welsh pop, and this reference not only confirms such an outstanding status without leaving room for doubt, but also does so in style, pointing out to what could well be the best album of an already impeccable career. An impeccable pop work, adorned with exquisite arrangements that provide just enough to achieve that baroque touch that, without falling into excess, suits the compositions so well.
This present installment has links in common with the catalog of another first sword such as Neil Hannon and his The Divine Comedy and, throughout a decalogue with a luminous appearance and nostalgic message, it points to an author in a definitive state of grace. Rhys recreates passages with his usual elegance and good taste, speeding up the stroke with an endless series of resources in the form of details that, even when placed in the foreground to enhance the compositions, avoid being overloaded out of place. String arrangements, unbeatable melodies and a suggestive voice full of nuances leave in their wake a beautiful album traced with dreamy gems, which will turn the listener’s environment into a more habitable place. It happens, among others, in the initials “Sadness Sets Me Free y Bad Friend”and also with “They Sold My Home To Build A Skyscraper”, that jellybean that is “Silver Lining (Lead Balloons)”, “Peace Signs” o “Cover Up The Cover Up”lengthening until the final, blinding radiance of “I’ll Keep Singing” and their magical violins.
Something remains of the psychedelic and colorful surrealism of the days of Super Furry Animals, although now it appears with a trace of creative maturity that, in the specific case of Pembrokeshire, boasts a praising naturalness. “Sadness Sets Me Free” It is an immaculate journey through the universe of Gruff Rhys, that one so special and imaginative that it can barely be encompassed between emotion and amazement, satisfaction and happiness, and to which it is necessary (and enormously pleasurable) to approach it again and again in search of new nooks and crannies that discover. Above all, in this album which, it is well worth reiterating, could be understood as the author’s creative achievement to date, after imposing himself like a feast around his own credentials, now completely unleashed and put at the service of wonderful songs.
Sadness Sets Me Free de Gruff Rhys